In liquid crystal displays, a polarizer is essentially placed on both side of panel substrates such as glass substrates, which form the outermost surfaces of a liquid crystal panel, for the image-forming mechanism, and a polarizing film is generally stuck to the outermost surface of the liquid crystal panel. Besides the polarizing film, various types of optical films have been used on the outermost surface of the liquid crystal panel to improve the display quality. Examples of such films include retardation films for coloring prevention, viewing angle expansion films for improving the viewing angle of liquid crystal displays, and brightness enhancement films for increasing the contrast of displays. These films are generically called optical films.
The surface of glass substrates for use in liquid crystal display panels can be physically scratched. When an optical film is stuck via a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to glass substrates, such a scratch can form a void, which can cause display defects such as scattered bright spots. Scratches of glass substrates can often be produced during transportation. If the scratch is very large, the glass substrate should be rejected. When the glass substrate is subjected to a chemical treatment or a polishing process for the production of thin liquid crystal display panels, the scratch can become larger. If the scratch of the glass substrate is slight or lighter than a specified level, the glass substrate can be reproduced by polishing or surface treatment.
On the other hand, after a liquid crystal display panel is assembled with a glass substrate, the surface of the glass substrate can also be scratched during transportation or some processes. In such a case, it is difficult to reproduce the substrate in the above-mentioned manner. However, methods for reconditioning liquid crystal display panels have been investigated, because the liquid crystal display panels comprising glass substrates provided with transparent electrodes, oriented films and so on are a high extra value added product. For example, it is disclosed that a scratch that can cause a display defect on a liquid crystal display panel can be compensated or repaired with an adhesive optical member having controlled adhesion creep characteristics (for example, see JP-A No. 2001-42309). Using the disclosed adhesive optical member, display defect-inducible scratches at some levels can be compensated or repaired. However, there has been a demand for further refinements or improvements in the compensation or repair of display defect-inducible scratches.